


A Gift of Friendship

by newbarrk



Category: Pocket Monsters SPECIAL | Pokemon Adventures, Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: 2020 Specord Secret Santa, But aibo. Aibo is crucial to the plot, Gen, Others appear too but like w/e theyre not integral to the plot, what a good monke.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-15 15:43:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28815822
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/newbarrk/pseuds/newbarrk
Summary: As much as Gold said he didn’t care for Secret Santa’s, maybe this year, the year that he (finally) gets to be able to be included in one, will be different. The only problem is: what in the world does Yellow even like?With help from his faithful best friend Aibo, will he be able to give her the best gift he can think of? Or will he get banned from future gift-giving events?
Relationships: Gold & Yellow (Pokemon Adventures)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 24
Collections: 2020 Specord Secret Santa





	A Gift of Friendship

**Author's Note:**

> A gift for the Specord Secret santa event! Ahaha , enjoy ! 
> 
> ,,,what do you mean i havent posted a fic in a year?

Gold didn’t understand the point of secret santa. He thought it was a dumb idea, so he never took part in any of the secret santas that his seniors set up. His lack of participation had absolutely nothing to do with his seniors not telling him about the secret santa assignments until after they were done, thus not being able to take part. No, it’s nothing like that at all! He just doesn’t like secret santa! He didn’t, say, build up a resentment against the activity due to not being included since they started doing it two years ago, no way! But all of that is irrelevant right now, since this year would be different! 

(Despite everything, he still wanted to feel somewhat included with his friends and their stupid holiday activities. What were they afraid of, anyway? A horribly bad gift? Isn’t that the point of secret santa? To give silly joke gifts, that you know they'd get a kick out of, to your friends with the message that you’re thinking of them?)

(Maybe they’re worried that he'd go over the top and get a fuckin’ designer snow globe with real gold leaves inside. Those… probably exist. But he’d never go to that extreme unless he really, **really** had to.)

To ensure he actually got to participate, he texted Crys, pestering her about when the activity was taking place.

(Of course, he wasn’t too outright about asking. He expertly covered it up with his expert covert skills:

**FROM: GOLD**

hey crys  
crysss  
whatre you doin 2day

**FROM: CRYSTAL**

Hey, Gold! Nothing much today, just setting up the Christmas tree for the kids at the Pokemon Academy, why?

**FROM: GOLD**

oh cool cool cool i could come round n help if u want  
btw is blue settin up the secret santa for everyone this year  
just wonderin lmao

**FROM: CRYSTAL**

Sure! I'd appreciate the help 🥺  
And I'm… not sure! I'll have to ask her, but I think so. 😊

**FROM: GOLD**

coolcoolcool sweet ill be round in 5

  
See? Nailed it. Smooth as fuck.)

(The “smoothness” of the interaction quickly faded when he texted her the next day asking if she asked Blue about it yet, then the day after for more updates, and the day after that, but it’s the thought that counts. He got the date eventually.)

The day when the assignments were “released” came quicker than he expected, if he’s honest. He was also shocked to find that all his seniors, Crys, his juniors, and even Silv were there too.

(It really starts to feel like they purposefully left him out the past few years, huh…)

With a sly grin, Blue finally kicked off the so-called selection ceremony, starting with a speech. Gold straight up did not pay attention to- not his fault, the dress she was wearing was so blindly sparkling that he just physically could not pay attention to her words, since all he could hear was light. It doesn’t make sense when you describe it but that’s the best way he could… well, describe it. He’s sure she mentioned something along the lines of ‘everyone is here!’ But he can’t actually say if she actually said it or if he just imagined it in his ‘well you purposefully left me out the last two years and now you’re stupidly happy I’m here? Nice faking bro’ thought process.

He really should get over that. 

She then showed how the process would work: she would pick a name from one hat and call it out, so that person can pick a name from another hat - which would be their assignment. The hats were coloured; blue for the names Blue was picking out, and Red for the names of the people getting gifts. 

She demonstrated this by picking out the first name out of the Blue hat- Gold’s. 

Naturally. 

Walking to the red hat was a uniquely difficult task when you’re the first one picked. The gaze of everyone was on his back as he walked; or at least that’s what his brain kept telling him.

He was banking on obtaining a name he could actually have a semblance of an idea as to what to buy - that is, he was hoping to not pick any of his juniors. As much as he cares, they are no match for the bonds he has made with his buddies and seniors, hoenn dex-holders aside. Internally, he was hoping to pick Red, just to get him a stupid sweater saying “have a RED-ical holiday”.

He closed his eyes, after what felt like eons getting to the hat, and shoved his hand inside. Paper in hand, he walked away and awaited further instruction, which he didn't listen to either. He did catch the due date: Dec 23rd.

Despite much goading he actually decided to wait until opening the paper which presented the name of his gift. He was sitting comfortably on his sofa at home, Pibu snuggling against his side, when he unfurled the paper slip.

There was only one word on the paper, the name bolded.

**YELLOW.**

“Ah, fuck.”

* * *

Yellow. Yellow, Yellow, Yellow. The one person Gold had never really gotten the chance to bond with. He was deep in thought, pen idly drawing on the notepad in his lap as he thought, and thought, and thought, of a present Yellow would like.

What did she even like? What was she in to?

Once he looked down and saw a terrible stickman sketch of Yellow he did, he decided to write some notes.

He absolutely will do this by himself, to prove them all wrong. To prove that yes, Gold can be thoughtful, actually, fuck you.

Four hours had already passed since he had opened the paper slip. All the progress he had made was a small note:

**Yellow:** **_hats. fishing?_ **

He stared at his notebook for five more minutes before letting himself fall backwards into his sofa with a groan, startling a few of the pokémon around him.

He needed a better idea.

Two hands pressed against his shoulders, and he was met with the face of One Purple Monkey. 

“Sup Aibo.”

Gold shifted so Aibo could sit next to him, carefully moving a sleeping Pibu out of the way and onto Gold’s own lap. A tail sneaked itself around Gold’s waist and gently squeezed.

“What d’ya think, buddy? We got assigned to give a gift to Yellow.”

Aibo tilted his head, before pointing his free tail at Pibu.

“Yeah, Chuchu’s trainer Yellow, that one. Got any ideas? I’m pretty much stumped.”

Aibo points more aggressively at the sleeping Pichu while Gold stares at him deadpan. He pushes the notepad towards Aibo.

“What's Pibu got to do with this?” He asked, and the purple monkey huffed.

Gold watched Aibo write on the notepad, knowing full well that, mistakes aside, the two of them essentially have the same reading and writing levels. It takes a little while, but Aibo hands back the notepad on a new page, with a little sketch to aid his explanation.

_Reekonosense._ (This was expressed with a drawing of himself and Aibo with binoculars).

_Use Pich undercover. Meet her!! profit._

The rest was a drawing of Yellow, Hatless, talking to Gold while Pibu and Chuchu playーwait.

Wait…

“You want me to use Pibu as bait to talk with Yellow?”

Aibo nods.

“And use that for gift ideas?”

He nods again, smiling a little wider.

“Aibo have I ever told you how much I love you because oh my God you just saved my ASS!”

The response from the normal-type was another tail squeeze against his waist, which Gold returned to Aibo’s shoulder instead.

So the idea was going to be messaging Yellow somehow, stating that Pibu wants to see his mama. Of course she’d accept right? He dropped a text to her about it, saying something about meeting up later in the week. By that, he of course meant _soon:_

**FROM: GOLD**

hey strawhat gal  
yellow? cant think of a way to shorten that huh  
yell? low? nothin works

**FROM: YELLOW**

XD  
just call me yellow then!!  


**FROM: GOLD**

yellow it is  
anyway  
ypu know how chuchus pibus mom

**FROM: YELLOW**

oh!!!!!!!!   
oh oh oh !! does pibu miss his mom?? we can have a little get together if you want? chuchu misses her son too 🥺

**FROM: GOLD**

thatd be fantastic he keeps staring at the photo of him pika and chuchu and sadly whining like  
buddy  
you saw them like a week ago

**FROM: YELLOW**

XDDDDD  
okay okay  
ill see you later then right?  


**FROM: GOLD**

yeah  
wait  
how much latwr is later  
yellow  
yellow  
ywllow   
yellwow  
oh my god.  
im going to viridian right now

(He was already in the air on Togebo, so he wasn’t able to get to his phone when he got the response, “SORRY I DROPPED MY PHONE AND CHUCHU STOLE IT” “GOLD?????”)

* * *

It took about an hour to reach Viridian Forest from New Bark by air, though Gold was sure he was maybe breaking flight speed limits at some points. Jumping off Togebo once they hit the ground at the forest's entrance, he ran through the forest in an only _slightly_ panicked state (that is, he was very much panicked right now). 

He ran, and ran, and ran, almost colliding into two bug catchers, three trees, andー

“GOLDー!!”

He skidded to a stop right in front of her. “YELLOW??”

And there she was, near the lake that, had he not stopped in time, would have knocked them both into. With a sheepish smile, she showed him her phone. “I tried to text you that everything was okay but you didn’t reply…”

Gold collapsed to the ground in sheer relief. “Good lord. You scared the shit out of me.”

Yellow giggled, saying a quick apology before joining him on the ground. “I promise I didn’t mean to scare you like that!” She”s still chuckling though, so Gold guessed she was thinking about how funny it must’ve been, that the moment she didn’t reply to his text he had assumed she was in trouble and dropped everything to go and help her.

Or maybe just how fast he got there from across the region. Now, he’s 99% sure he broke a speed limit or three.

Pibu peaked his head out of the bag, exploring his surroundings by quickly looking both ways. With a loud chirp as soon as he spotted Yellow, he scrambled out of his makeshift prison and straight into her arms.

“Pibu! Hello!” Her head rested on the small mouse Pokémon, and Pibu nuzzled his own head against hers. Considering the small jump she did, Gold reasoned that he got so excited that he gave her a static shock. “Ow, ow, ow,”

Before Gold could even get a word out to chastise the Pichu, a Pikachu appeared next to his leg, batting against it. With a heavy sigh, he said in a deadpan voice, “I’m sorry you didn’t see your son for a week, Chuchu.” This happened every time he took Pibu to either Pika’s or Chuchu’s. They get so mad. It’s not his fault Yellow and Red both refuse to live in his mansion, and he’s offered _multiple_ times. It doesn’t matter. Chuchu seemed to accept the apology nonetheless - he wasn’t doing it maliciously after all - and bounced over to the Pichu. 

“Parents, huh?” He said, watching her fuss over him. 

A small noise from Yellow, “Umm,” that makes Gold switch from his focus of the family reunion. 

… ‘ _Oh, I am so fucking stupid.’_

“Oh, right, ahaha,” Awkward laugh. He doesn’t know how to save this conversation, fuck. Um. Think, dumbass, think! “How are you spending the holidays this year?” God _fucking_ **_damn it, Gold._ **

“Oh…! Um… I think this year we’ll be having dinner at Green’s house! Or was it Blue’s…” She trails off in thought, and Gold internally sighs. Situation salvaged. “Why do you ask?”

Shit, “Oh, I’m just thinkin’. I usually spend it with my mama—mom and the Pokémon at home. Wouldn’t be fun to be alone during the holidays, y’know? Might invite Silv and Crys over too, after Crys is finished in the PokéAcademy, that is.” They’re so busy, so so busy, “Maybe they’ll be too busy, though. I dunno. The holidays are always busy.” 

Yellow nods along as Gold sighs. “I think I understand. It’s like Chuchu! She gets really stubborn and upset when she hasn’t seen Pika or Pibu for a while. She needs her family, but especially around this time of year, everyone is so busy! It’s hard to find time to relax… even I’m almost rushed off my feet—” She interrupts herself with a yawn, which piques his interest.

“You tired?”

She nods, “You didn’t respond, so I assumed you were trying to find me. So I’ve been running around for about an hour!” She chuckles, scratching the back of her neck. “Plus, I ran into a Pokémon that needed my help—”

“Ohhh…” The white mage shit she does, the one that heals wounds and stuff that zaps her energy.

She yawns again, “Can barely keep my eyes open…!” He watches as she makes herself comfy against a tree. She looks… cold. Isn’t that cold? 

“Ain’t ya cold?” That probably could have been worded better.

“A little,” she mumbles, “but I don’t exactly have a blanket I can carry with me, y’know—” She pauses mid-sentence, piquing further interest from Gold. “I’m really sorry… you came all the way to Kanto for Pibu and Chuchu’s sake and I can’t even stay awake.”

“Then why don’t I carry you back to your place? I know this place well enough to know where you live, so you should be okay to nap—” He stops himself from rambling, scratching his head to think of the point he was making. “If it’s okay with you, I could take ya back to your place so you don’t have to rest out in the cold, y’know?”

She thinks on it— or she almost dozes off, Gold can’t tell. But, no matter how sleepy she gets, Gold recognises a nod when he sees one. So with minimal effort, he lifted her up. 

‘ _Huh, she’s about the same weight as Togebo._ ’

That… gave him another idea. But he’s holding that thought; right now, he has to navigate the twists and turns of the Viridian forest; judging from the sounds he’s hearing, evening is setting in soon, and he doesn’t want to stay outside any longer than necessary. 

After a short walk through the rapidly darkening forest, Gold had finally reached the home of Yellow. She was carefully placed on the sofa, with his own hoodie placed on top of her for extra comfort and warmth. Before she finally dozed off to sleep in his arms, she reassured him it was okay for him to stay a little longer, ‘for Pibu’s sake’. So that’s exactly what he did. He knows that she can be sentimental, and considering Chuchu’s reaction to Gold not immediately leaving after placing her on the sofa really proved what she had said earlier. Chuchu missed Pibu, and Pibu missed his mother. The two were asleep too, Chuchu curling herself around Pibu. Chuchu really did miss her family. 

He guessed Yellow missed the others, too. Since he was basically alone, and Yellow out for the count, he let Aibo out of his pokéball.

“Aibo your genius is unparallelled. It knows no bounds. You are one amazing partner.” Aibo’s arms rested on his hips as he smugly- but also bashfully, Gold noticed a tail itching the back of Aibo’s head as he accepted the praise.

And so with Aibo’s help, he was able to pick a small batch of presents all for Yellow, and one for Chuchu, too. All arriving in two days (aside from Chuchu’s) — perfect. With that all sorted… best he rest up for a while too. 

* * *

The gifts arrived at his home 2 days later. The Sandshrew who has been in his home since he was a child was carefully sniffing and inspecting the boxes. Gold chucked, taking the boxes away from them and gently placing it on the coffee table.

Perfect, everything’s here. 

One by one, he took the presents out of the boxes they came in: a Pikachu themed Parka and Sweater, complete with her name sewn on the tags, a yellow and black blanket– one she could use while away from her house, and finally, the weighted blanket. He figured that since a weighted blanket feels like a warm hug, she’d appreciate it. He added one last gift; for Chuchu. It was a small scarf, handmade. He hoped that it’d be loved by Chuchu the same way Pibu loves his own little scarf. It’s still a work in progress, so he isn’t adding it to the pile just yet.

Now the difficult part: wrapping. He didn’t want to take a traditional way of wrapping; regular wraps are just not his style. He saw a fad online, wherein you wrap a present to look like a completely different object, and he adored the idea. He doubted that he’d get banned from secret santas forever because wrapped the present up in a gimmicky way. If anything, he’d be banned for buying such expensive presents… that’s far more likely to happen, so he might as well go through with the gimmick. He can have a _bit_ of fun. Just a tad.

Looking back on his list of things about Yellow that he knew was probably the best way of figuring out how to wrap them all, too. 

_‘Yellow… Hats? No, no, a hat would be too hard, and way too heavy with the blankets. Fishing…?’_

Gold began to look up fishing supplies, since the only thing he knew was ‘fishing rod’. Then came his saving grace; something called a ‘Tackle box’, which is a box to put your fishing supplies in.

If she wanted an actual one, he can get it for her birthday instead, he figured. He rubbed his hands together, then grabbed some empty boxes. Ohoho, this will be fun.

* * *

Soon enough the day of the gift reveal arrived, and Gold arrived at the scene at a semi-decent time; at least he wasn’t the latest person, even _if_ Crys offered him a ride. He had Togebo, it was _fine_. Like some of his juniors, this was his first time in a Dexholder Secret Santa. Which really is saying something; he’s been a dexholder way longer than most of the others here, so why wasn’t he invi—he’s spiralling. 

So he arrived during Blue’s explanation of how the whole thing worked. So what? This whole thing was– well, it wasn’t _that_ stupid, he guessed. It was nice to meet with Yellow, at least. But the sheer amount of stress he’s hiding behind his strained smile was almost crushing him. Even so, he greeted everyone calmly, “Geez, y’all started without me? C’mon, I wasn’t _that_ late guys!”

Blue simply rolled her eyes, explaining how she and her ‘volunteer’ (clearly Crystal) would read out some names, and the gifter will give the gift to the giftee… or whatever. He wasn’t listening anymore, but his ears were tuning in on whenever Yellow’s name was read out.

And then it was. And then came the guilt. The fear. The anxiety.

“Okay, who got a gift for Yellow?” Blue read out, and—

_‘Okay, Gold, you’ve got this.’_

“That would be I, guys, gals, and enby pals!” He stood up with a wink and single playful finger gun, his other hand holding the gift bag. 

Time seemed to slow as he walked over towards her, everyone’s judgemental eyes on him, waiting on him to fuck up. Hell, _he’s_ waiting on the inevitable fuck up. With every step, the anxiety built up, and built up, it’s taking every muscle in his body to not give into the thoughts; thoughts that he might as well not give the present at all, just run away, escape. But no, no he can’t. He’s a badass cool kid, he _will_ give this present to Yellow, he worked so hard to wrap it and think of things she’d like; it’d be a waste to not go through with the final step.

“Wait, _you_ were my Secret Santa?!” Yellow said, sounding shocked and interrupting Gold’s ever-spiralling thoughts. Her eyes widened a little more as she realised, “Wait—”

“Yup! T’was I!” He interrupted, placing the gift into her lap and scurrying away before he could see either her reaction or what she was going to say next. But he heard her reaction anyway.

“A tackle box…?” He glanced over, watching her slowly unwrap the box– did she look sad? She does, she looks sad, like their meeting she figured out was a way to find out what she likes was for nothing. God, he’s such a fuck-up. He quickly turned away, shuffling back to where he was previously—

Then he was suddenly hugged from behind, a small voice muttering, “Thank you,”

“For– For what?” He turned himself a little, only really being able to see the top of her head from the angle. “All I did was just get a couple of things I thought you’d like—”

“That’s exactly why, dummy!” She squeezes a little harder on his waist and _how can a little person squeeze so hard?_ “You put thought in it, and- I love all the gifts! Thank you, Gold.”

“I—” He’s lost for words, for once in his life. “It’s no problem! Glad you liked it,” His smile was actually genuine as he says, “I hope Chuchu likes her scarf—”

“ **_A WEIGHTED BLANKET????!_ **”

“BLUE!!!” The tightness around your waist fades as Yellow runs over to push Blue away from the contents in her cardboard tackle box. Maybe the weighted blanket _wasn’t_ a good idea, at least not for a Secret Santa gift. But eh, he didn’t care. She liked it, and seeing her so happy with the stuff he got her was definitely worth whatever berating he was about to get.

* * *

**Epilogue;**

“You. Gave someone. A **weighted blanket**. For a secret santa present.” Crys said, hands on her hips in front of a dejected Gold. 

He sighed, and began to mutter a list, “And a personalised pikachu parka and sweater, a throw blanket, and a handmade scarf for Chuchu, all inside a cardboard box in the shape of—”

“Gold.” Crys interrupted. “How much did you spend on this? In total.”

“Aha… um…” He scratched his cheek, embarrassed, “I uh. I don’t—”

“If you don’t remember, you’ve spent too much,”

“Ah,” This is the punishment for going overboard without realising, isn’t it? “Is– is this it for me, Crys? Are you banning me from future gift events cauz I don’t know when to stop? Or like—”

“No! No, no, you’re not banned at all! I just…” Crystal sighed, head in her hands, gently rubbing her temple.

“I knew we should have given a spending limit…!”

**_Fin._ **


End file.
